FLYING Magazine
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised the pilots of a nearly 25-year-old U.S. Coast Guard aircraft after they safely landed Mullin and about a dozen others at Reagan National Airport (KDCA) in Washington, D.C., following an engine loss on Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) said in a statement shared with FLYING that the aircraft—a Gulfstream V operating for the Coast Guard as C-37A with the call sign “Coast Guard 101”—landed safely at Reagan National after pilots reported a “possible mechanical issue” around 1:35 p.m. EDT. No injuries were reported, and the MWAA said there was no disruption to other flights.
It added that the aircraft was checked by fire and rescue personnel before moving off the runway.
The Coast Guard operates a pair of Gulfstream V long-range command and control jets that often carry top branch and DHS officials. The older C-37A entered Coast Guard service in May 2002, according to the branch’s website, making it close to 25 years old. The newer Gulfstream, operating as C-37B with call sign “Coast Guard 102,” was delivered in 2022 and has an expected service life of 30 years.
“The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine,” Mullin wrote on X Wednesday. “No panic, just straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands.”
The C-37A pilot, who radioed air traffic controllers (ATCs) at the Potomac Approach around 1:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, said the jet had 14 people on board and about 2.5 hours of fuel remaining.
“We just lost our right engine,” the pilot told ATC. “We’d like to declare an emergency and just an immediate landing at DCA.”
After landing, the pilot said the aircraft would be able to taxi after crew members “run through a few checklists.”
Coast Guard’s Aging Aircraft
Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who departed the role in March, raised the issue of the C-37A’s age in a post on X Thursday.
“So thankful everyone is safe,” Noem wrote. “Guess the Coast Guard did need new planes.”
The Washington Post in May 2025 reported that DHS under Noem planned to acquire a new Gulfstream V. Admiral Kevin Lunday, sworn in as commandant of the Coast Guard in January, said in a congressional hearing that month that the G-V used by Noem was “approaching obsolescence.” Representative Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) estimated that acquiring a new aircraft would require $50 million to be drawn from the Coast Guard’s budget.
Tricia McLaughlin, Noem’s spokesperson who departed DHS in February, said in a statement defending the purchase that the Gulfstream was “well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft.” McLaughlin also said the C-37A was “outside of Gulfstream’s service life,” calling its proposed replacement a “matter of safety.”
DHS in the news release containing McLaughlin’s statement noted that the C-37A “faces significant avionics and communications obsolescence issues” that have affected its availability for “critical missions.”
Congressional Democrats in 2025 also flagged the age of the Coast Guard’s aircraft but questioned the use of the branch’s funds to replace the C-37A.
In a May 2025 letter to Noem, ranking members of the House Homeland Security Committee and Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee said funding a new Gulfstream would come at a cost to other aging Coast Guard assets. They cited a 2024 Government Accountability Office report that said many aircraft in its fleet entered service in the 1980s and ’90s, meaning some are decades older than the G-V.
Despite objections, DHS in October 2025 was reported to have purchased two new Gulfstream jets for $172 million. Neither has entered service.
Modernizing the National Airspace System (NAS) and federal aviation assets has been a core issue facing President Donald Trump’s administration.
Trump is phasing out a pair of aging VC-25A presidential transport aircraft with a heavily modified Boeing 747-8 gifted by the Qatari royal family. Officials refer to the jet as the VC-25B “Bridge,” and it made its first flight as Air Force One when Trump traveled from Maryland to North Dakota in July.
The administration is also phasing out helicopters that have long served as Marine One when transporting the president for Sikorsky VH-92A Patriots. Crews have begun building a new helipad on the White House South Lawn to accommodate the VH-92As due to their penchant for torching the grass.
At the same time, the Transportation Department is leading a multibillion-dollar modernization of the nation’s ATC system.